Between a Boy and a Dragon
by Candiangirl534
Summary: All the guild members had stopped their panic stricken escape as their guild mate's scream echoed through the room. Silence invaded after Natsu had calmed down, and it gave him the chance to growl low almost all incoherent words. All except one. "Mine..." the man rumbled, sending vibrations through Lucy's back.
1. Lucy isn't a genius

Okay so I love the concept with dragons "mating" and Natsu losing control, so I wanted to do my own take on it. Fair warning this won't be very sexual, so if you're looking for smut look somewhere else. Hope you like it!

* * *

Natsu slid onto the barstool beside Lucy and plunked his head down on the wooden table with a small "Oof"

"I'm so bored!" he whined and then turned to face the celestial Mage. Lucy had been reading a blue; leather bound book and writing things down in a small notebook at the same time. Seeing Natsu's pitiful face she sighed and turned to face him.

"Why don't you go fight with Gray? Or Elfman?" she suggested, slightly annoyed by the bothersome dragon slayer. She grinned as she added "Or Erza?"

She loved the way the boy's face paled at the thought of fighting the legendary Titania. "I can't" he replied, "Elfman is with Mirajane and Lisanna doing whatever and Gray and Erza went on a mission. They didn't even invite us!"

Lucy was amused at the boy's childlike face, which was turned into a cute pout. Slightly chuckling she returned to her previous activity.

Natsu huffed as he noticed Lucy turn away from him. You'd think she would have noticed how lonely he looked. His exceed friend was off flirting with Carla and every other team aside from team shadow gear and Gajeel had left. He turned around and rested his elbows on the table with a sigh. He faced Lucy once again hoping for some attention and chuckled at Lucy's expression. She was completely serious as she furiously wrote things down in her little notebook, pausing only to read the novel.

"Whatcha doin' Luce?" Natsu asked and shifted his position yet again so that his hands rested in front of him, clutching the edge of the stool. It seemed his boredom was getting him a bit jittery.

Lucy looked up at him for half a second and then hurriedly stowed the book and notepad inside her bag.

"Nothing." she replied and then started tapping her finger on her thigh anxiously.

Natsu grinned. He'd found something fun to do. He jumped up and started sniffing around Lucy's chair, where her bag was. Finding it lying there, wide open, he lunged. His fingertips had just grazed the shoulder strap when he felt a foot plant itself in the center of his face. His lunge had been stopped short and the bag had disappeared into the lap of the blonde girl.

"Just a peek!" he complained rubbing his throbbing cheek.

"No" Lucy replied firmly, now clutching the bag to her chest.

"C'mon Luce! You know if you don't tell me I'll assume the worst." he continued.

Lucy's eyes narrowed. "What's the worst?" she asked him, stressed that he might guess right. She knew that was irrational though, Natsu guessing anything right was simply never going to happen.

Natsu thought for a moment before answering her with enthusiasm.

"It's gotta be something like writing how bad Erza is at something. Or how she's gonna get fat with all the cake she's eaten!" he declared loudly, sure he was right.

Lucy sighed with relief. The relief that was short lived however as she found a certain swords woman's shadow was now looming over Natsu. He was oblivious to his impending fate as he waited for Lucy respond.

"Fat?" an eerily calm voice asked. Natsu was still assuming it was Lucy as he answered.

"Yes. Huge like a watermelon." and to top it off he sucked in air to make his cheeks big and made arm movements to give the impression of a big person.

Veins had shown up on Erza's forehead and Lucy decided now was the perfect chance to move away from Natsu.

One rage filled punch had been enough to send the boy flying to the roof of the guildhall, releasing the air he had been holding like a balloon.

"Erza!" he screeched, clutching his stomach.

Erza just huffed and walked off to find some of her favorite comfort cake. Natsu was trying to recover from the punch as Gray walked up behind him, half naked.

"Idiot. Why in the world would you insult Erza?" he sneered and stood above Natsu's crouching form.

Natsu was still recovering from Erza's attack so he simply replied, "Your clothes, pervert"

Natsu felt elated as he watched his rival's face take on a look of anger and then shock as he noticed he was showing off his chest and underwear.

"I'm not a pervert!" Gray called as he started scouring the guilds floor for his lost garments.

Lucy had been watching the exchange between the two and was about to comment when Natsu took advantage of her distracted self. Natsu acted absurdly fast as he lunged towards Lucy's bag. This time he got it. Without losing his momentum Natsu rolled into a summersault and jumped into one of the low hanging beams.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, grabbing the air below him. A blush spread across her cheeks as she realized he was reading her notes.

"Hmm…" Natsu murmured as he concentrated. You could practically see the question marks popping out of his head.

"Lucy, could you please explain these words?" he asked politely.

Anger and embarrassment laced Lucy's voice as she yelled. "No, I can't. That's why I wrote them down!"

Natsu looked confused as he hoped down from his perch in front of Lucy.

"You mean even _you _don't understand these words either?" he questioned.

Lucy's blush spread to her neck as she nodded an affirmative. She ripped the bag out of his hands and grabbed the notebook with it. Natsu frowned for a moment, trying to grasp the concept of Lucy not knowing something.

"That's why I copied them down. _To learn them. _Sheesh. Don't take my stuff without asking first." She explained as she put the notebook back in her bag.

Natsu was still sporting a puzzled expression when he started acting weird. He slowly brought his hands up to his face and sniffed them. Lucy raised an eyebrow at his actions. He kept sniffing and even put one of his fingers in his mouth. A shiver ran down his spine as an odd dreamy expression took over the puzzled one.

"You okay Natsu?" Lucy asked as she raised a hand to check his temperature.

His reaction was immediate as his hand came up to clutch Lucy's wrist painfully. Lucy made a sound of pain and surprise at Natsu's unwanted grip. He snapped out of his trance at the small cry, and pulled his hand away quickly. There were four red finger marks that were going to bruise on Lucy's wrist.

"Luce, I'm sorry!" he shouted, clearly shaken.

"It doesn't matter. Are you sure you're not feeling sick though? We could ask Wendy when she comes back." Lucy said feeling very concerned for the fire dragon slayer, totally forgetting about her own injury.

"I'm fine Lucy. I think I'll take a walk." Natsu replied bluntly before leaving the celestial mage, holding his accursed hands.

Natsu walked out of the guild trying to look as normal as possible. When he broke free of Lucy's stares he started running. He ran for a full six minutes until he found himself deep in the forest near his and Happy's house. Slowly he felt himself collapse on a rock. His hands shook and an unbearable pain had stabbed his head. He didn't care though, a different yet just as unbearable pain flourished in his chest. He stared at his shivering hands.

_I hurt Lucy, _he thought, _I hurt her. _He closed his eyes and bowed his head in shame. If anyone else had done that to Lucy they would've been reduced to a bloody pulp by Natsu's hand. But the hand that should've been protecting her had hurt her. It had left _marks_ on her.

Natsu sighed with regret. He would have to look at them the next time he sees her. If it hurt he would ask Wendy to put a spell on her so she couldn't feel it. Hell he'd have to ask Wendy to erase the marks all together.

A bitter feeling replaced the current expression on his face. He brought his hands up and smashed them on a tree trunk for betraying him. The pain seemed to remind him where he was and that the pain in his head seemed to have grown. A lot.

Groaning, he held his head with his bleeding hands and made a mental note to ask Wendy for her diagnoses. In the meantime he put up a brave face and went to vent his anger on Gray.


	2. Natsu's a little sick

yay, second chapter! I'm really getting into this story. I've read a lot of fairytail fanfiction with about the same type of plot and it usually ends in smut and Natsu changing entirely by the time the story is over. So when i say there's no smut its not that I don't like it or can't write it, its just I don't think it goes well with this type of story or with Natsu's character. And I will definitely be working on the summary. I'll probably have to change it a couple times before i find the right one. So without further ado here's chapter two! PLEASE REVIEW!

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Lucy got up the next morning with the odd feeling of being well-rested. Most people would relish in the feeling of waking up in the morning and _not_ cursing the sun that seeped through the window, but Lucy was different. The rejuvenating feeling only told her no one had visited her last night. No one had kept her up to eat her food, no one had snuck into her bed, and no one had tried to burn something of hers. It was concerning. If Happy had still been with Carla, then that meant that Natsu had gone to sleep that night completely alone.

Sighing, Lucy hopped out of bed. She stretched and was contemplating a bath when she noticed tufts of pink hair. Natsu was resting in her office chair with his head laying on the wooden surface. The rise and fall of his chest sent a wave of relief through. He hadn't gone to bed alone. But, the fact that he hadn't interrupted her slumber still unnerved her. Masking her concern she made her way over to the boy.

"Don't come into other people's homes without permission!" she screeched and kicked him awake.

Natsu bolted up from his position and fell backwards. He got up slowly, rubbing his head and putting on a childish pout he turned to Lucy.

"Lucy! Don't be mean." he whined while dramatically rubbing his head.

Lucy was about to scold him some more when a bandaged hand caught her attention.

"What is this?" she said as she grabbed his injured hand and watched him wince.

"Nothing." he replied, starring at his captured hand. His eyes glanced to the culprit and his face grew sad. Four purple marks could be seen across her wrist, and Natsu mentally scolded himself for not injuring his hand more. He looked up to meet Lucy's doubtful expression.

"Really! I'm fine!" he reassured her.

Lucy looked thoughtful for a moment before grinning brightly.

"If you say so. Let's go to the guild, okay?" she suggested, thinking the amount of food in her kitchen would not suffice for a good breakfast.

"Yeah!" Natsu agreed easily grateful for the topic change.

Abandoning all thoughts of a bath the celestial mage quickly changed, and followed her friend through the front door.

* * *

Natsu inwardly groaned as the pain in his head had started to spread. The walk to the guild had been unusually quiet, only making idle conversation on things such as the weather. It was a good thing the conversation had been dull because every time Lucy began talking Natsu's head would pulse. The pain had been enough to make a normal man blackout, but Natsu not being a normal man was doing a fine job hiding it. He was confident hiding it was the smartest thing to do. He didn't want to worry anyone and if it got worse he would covertly discuss it with Wendy. She would use her magic and the pain would be gone, just like the wonderful spell called troia.

During the walk, Lucy watched Natsu with interest. Every time her voice could be heard his breathing would pick up. One time he even broke into a sweat. She knew something was definitely wrong. A fire mage sweating because of heat was impossible, and he hadn't done any exercise. The feeling of unease settled in Lucy's stomach as she chattered about petty things. She decided she would get Wendy to look at Natsu's injury just to feel like she was doing _something_ to help.

The walked took about ten minutes and before long the duo were walking through the guild doors. Natsu's pain had started to become unbearable but his face remained stoic as he hunted for the sky dragon slayer. At this point he would have searched the town to find her. When he and Lucy took different directions the pain had decreased and was a welcome relief. Still not wanting to abandon his quest for Wendy he continued to search.

Lucy strolled in and took a seat next to Levy who sat beside a sleeping Gajeel. Gajeel was releasing snores loud enough to bring dust down from the ceiling.

"He's been like this forever! Nothing I do seems to wake him up!" Levy screamed. Lucy winced as her voice resounded in her ears.

_She _certainly would of woken up from that monstrous cry. Lucy glanced down at Gajeel's face. Gajeel was grinning like an idiot at Levy's frustration and snores began to get louder.

_What a faker_, Lucy thought, amused at the sight of Levy trying to plug Gajeel's nose. A sly expression took over her face as a light red colour tinged Gajeel's cheek as Levy leaned in closer to inspect his face.

Lucy decided to leave the two alone for now and hunt down Wendy, or more specifically Happy. Lucy had started to draw the conclusion that Natsu's odd behavior had something to do with the absence of his best friend. Furthermore, Lucy wanted to get Natsu's hand checked out. It was the perfect time too, because just when she had had the thought the wizard in question waltzed into the guildhall, two exceeds following.

"Wendy!" Lucy called and went to stand next to the girl.

"Lucy-san!" she waved and the two exchanged pleasantries.

Natsu had heard the name of the twelve year old dragon slayer being called and followed the sound. He was greeted by the sight of his partner sharing a joke about Gajeel with Wendy. The mere sight of her made the pain envelope his head and shoot down his spine. He'd stumbled, but caught himself and continued on his path. Each step was like a different kind of torture. As he made his way closer to them the pain seemed to increase. The pain could only be described as the burning sensation of ice touching skin for too long. It was enough to leave him trembling at the end of his journey.

Lucy noticed his form coming near and saw her chance.

"Wendy, why don't you take a look at Natsu's hand? It looks pretty bad." she explained.

Natsu felt a weakness in his joints as the pain took over his lower half and chest, making it hard to breath.

Lucy was oblivious to Natsu's state and eagerly took his hand and held it up to Wendy for inspection.

That's what took him over the edge.

Lucy had been unwrapping the bandages as she felt the boy's body fall to the ground. He ripped his hand away and stayed on all fours, shuddering uncontrollably.

"Natsu!" both girl's had exclaimed, bringing the stares of Levy and other random guild members. Even Gajeel had opened one eye at the panicked voices.

However, Natsu couldn't hear their screams. The pain had engulfed him entirely, leaving only blurry images in his eyes. He started clenching and unclenching his fists. He grunted and groaned for half a minute before he brought his head up to try and see his two friends. Even through his haze he could still tell which one was Lucy and the clouded sight sent spikes of pain through his entire body. A feral roar erupted from deep in Natsu's chest that would have made even the bravest of men cower.

Gajeel recognized the roar and leaped to his feet, just as Natsu made a lunge towards Lucy.


	3. Gajeel's a bit stupid

Okay so I wanted to write this chapter fast because I always HATED it when other people would end on a cliff hanger.

* * *

Natsu's leap hit Lucy in the gut and brought her to the ground. His fingers dug into her waist and blood started to ooze from where his fingernails were digging into her skin. Natsu's wild expression never ceased as he brought his face down to Lucy's shoulder and bit down. Fire flared up in Natsu's hands, as he tasted her blood.

_It tastes so good, _Natsu thought and raised his head poised for another bite. He struck out like a rattle snake, but before his teeth could penetrate her skin Gajeel ripped him off Lucy.

Gajeel wasted no time and had covered his body in iron scales. He tackled Natsu's side and brought him down a good meter away from the bleeding girl. Gajeel wrapped one arm around Natsu's waist and the other around his head. Natsu had not liked at all that he had been taken away from his obsession and lashed out. He spit, clawed, bit and flailed against Gajeel's metal body. Gajeel took all the hits like a champ and brought the boy to the ground, now holding his body in a wrestling move.

Natsu was still growling and roaring with anger when Erza walked in. She took one look at Lucy's minor, but still bleeding injuries and narrowed her eyes. Everyone had watched in shock when Natsu had attacked Lucy. They were always so funny and were the best of friends, so why did Natsu do this?

"OI!" Gajeel yelled, trying to drown out Natsu's roar, to no avail. Only the closest heard him and came to help.

"Anyone have any sleep magic?" he asked.

"I do! One minute!" Levy answered and dumped her bag of all her magical instruments. "It's here somewhere!"

A minute had passed and Levy still hadn't found her sleep magic when Natsu felt Gajeel's grip loosen. Throwing everything he had into it, Natsu broke free of Gajeel's grip and made a beeline to Lucy.

Levy's triumphant "I found it!" was drowned out by a fist hitting flesh. Natsu's pain filled grunt could be heard and the sound of a body hitting the floor.

Throughout his rabid attacks Lucy had been delirious. Only submitting to whatever Natsu did because she couldn't comprehend what was going on. When he had been ripped from her and pinned by Gajeel she had straightened up and looked at the wrestling dragon slayers. Her eyes met Natsu's and she started shaking. Natsu' eyes were probing her body and she was suddenly reminded of her injuries. She reached up to touch the most obvious one and flinched. The bite mark had left her bleeding heavily and her face had gone pale. Bringing the hand to her eyes she inspected the blood. Her eyes lingered there for a moment before they noticed something else. The purple bruises Natsu had inflicted on her yesterday. She felt like vomiting. Natsu had always protected her and she never thought that the monstrous strength he always showed would ever be turned against her. Deep down she knew it wasn't _her_ Natsu that had made her bleed, but she still felt the betrayal. She still felt tears spring to her eyes as she watched whatever thing that had possessed Natsu fight against Gajeel.

When Erza had entered she spared no time with shock and instead planted her fist in Natsu's gut, successfully knocking him unconscious. She assumed a cool and calm leadership role. She briskly made her way over to the injured Lucy helped up her shaking form.

"What happened Lucy?" Erza asked inspecting the obvious injuries. She lead her over to the bar and began to disinfect Lucy's wounds. Her emotions had been restrained while cleaning the bite mark, but when she saw ten claw marks on Lucy's stomach a bit of anger peppered her face. It was like some monster had tried to tear Lucy apart.

"I-I don't know." Lucy replied, wiping any tears from her face. "We were just talking with Wendy and..."

She stopped and turned around to face Natsu's body. She stared at the form, wanting to know exactly what had happened, just like Erza. She got distracted when she saw Gajeel was making something out of metal, and then quickly jumped to her feet when she saw a seven foot tall iron cage.

"What are doing?!" she called panicky when Gajeel threw the dragon slayer inside.

He grunted and closed the cage, fusing the metal together.

"I'm making a cage so Natsu doesn't kill you bunny girl. You saw how he acted." he said and turned to face the girl.

Lucy raised an eyebrow and glanced down at the captured boy. Her heart ached as she recognized the peaceful expression.

"You mean he's going to stay like this? How do you know this? Answer me quickly." Erza questioned, impatience leaking into her voice.

Gajeel sighed before turning to face her. "This happens to all dragons one time or another. Though I never heard of it happening to a dragon slayer..."

Erza was trying very hard to wait for him to continue and was about to draw her sword when Gajeel said "If this _is_ like dragons then I have no idea how to stop it."

A pause.

"What do you mean? What happens with dragons?" the girls questioned as Wendy, Levy and the exceeds came to join the conversation.

"Hmm..." Gajeel started "It happened to Metalicana once. We were just hunting for food when he saw another dragon and started acting weird. Metallicana said her knew the girl dragon since forever. He got a bit grumpy and the next time he saw her he snapped and attacked, just like Natsu."

Everyone looked at Gajeel as he explained, knowing that if they found any answers that it would be from him.

"And then? Did he kill her?" Levy asked timidly.

Gajeel looked a bit confused at Levy's question and answered, "No, female Dragons are generally stronger and more skilled at fighting. I got to tell you though Metallicana got one hell of a beating for the stunt he pulled." Gajeel chuckled.

Everyone nodded and urges him to continue on. Seeing only he had laughed at his joke he sighed. "When a dragon looses control like that it means his world is consumed with thoughts of only one thing. It takes over his personality and leaves only the object of his obsession. In Natsu's case, its Lucy he's obsessed with."

Lucy gulped "Why?"

Gajeel shrugged "Maybe something happened between you to trigger it? I don't know. But he won't stop until his obsession and only the obsession puts him in his place. Since Natsu is really strong, I think we might have some trouble with that happening."

"Lucy..." Gajeel said, folding his arms "He is not himself. He is _consumed_. He has no idea what he's doing so please don't hold it against him. For some reason the dragon in him seems to have gone past what is acceptable in dragon slayer magic. He will hunt you down like prey and want to make you his. He'll bite and scratch you and even kill you if it means that he owns you. This is a survival instinct for dragons called mating. Unlike most mammal's the females are stronger so the males have to throw everything they have if they want to reproduce. Though the success rate of two dragons actually getting together because of mating is very low..." Gajeel's face took a sage like look as he explained.

Erza decided to punch Gajeel for good measure and then turn to Lucy.

"Your coming with me. I'm the only one here who can sufficiently protect you."

Before Lucy could protest she felt her head being slammed down on Erza's chest plate in one of her special hugs. A moment passed before Erza spoke.

"Okay now let's go find Fried so that he can make a cage for Natsu." Erza explained and picked Lucy up so she wouldn't slow her down.

"Oi!" Gajeel huffed "I think my cage is fine enough, don't you?"

Erza scoffed, "As soon as he wakes up he'll melt the bars."

Gajeel's face fell as he realized she was right. His sage like expression was long forgotten and Levy laughed at the way he pouted. Happy, who had been silent throughout everything was reassured that Natsu was not to blame for his behavior and decided to cuddle in Natsu's limp arms before he woke up.


	4. Erza is the bravest

Wow, two chapter's in one day O.o PLEASE REVIEW

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They had decided to keep Gajeel's cage and just put a fire resistant spell on it, much to the pleasure of the metal dragon slayer. By the time noon came around the entire guild had accumulated in the main hall, and had all laughed at Natsu. _Natsu attacked Lucy? No way. _It had taken a lot of convincing just to plant the seed of doubt and even then Lissana and her siblings along with Gray just couldn't believe it, and no amount of convincing seemed to sway them.

"I just can't see it Erza." Gray said, shaking his head. "Natsu's an idiot but he would rather kill himself than attack Lucy."

Erza was getting annoyed. She'd been trying to convince him for 20 minutes but his response was always the same. Erza had Lucy sitting in the bar stool across from her. Lucy had been unusually quiet when they talked and only laughed awkwardly when they asked if it was true. Erza had decided talking wasn't enough for Gray and was about to beat the information in to him when Lucy spoke up.

"It's true Gray. Here. look." she whispered and held her shirt and released the bandages to reveal the claw marks. Gray simply stared as Lucy then took off the bandage on her arm covering the bite. Gray gave a sharp intake of breath and turned away, still not wanting to believe his rival was capable of such a thing.

Master had been sitting up on the second floor, deep in thought when a crowd started gathering around the cage. Everyone had started teasing the unconscious Natsu for getting beat up so easily by Erza. They were all having a good time, oblivious to the seriousness of the situation. It all stopped when Natsu opened his eyes.

Natsu coughed and slowly raised his head.

"Well look, it seems the idiot has finally woken up." Gray joked and made his way away from Lucy.

Natsu shook his head and desperately scanned the room. His eyes flicked up to Gray and smelled the faint smell of his mate on him. The animalistic roar that tore through Natsu's vocal chords silenced the guilds laughter. Natsu flung his head back as pained roars continued to fill the room. He was scratching at his face and throat. His eyes became moist as he threw his body up from his resting position and towards the wall of the cage. Everyone took a step back as he reached through the gaps between the bars.

"Natsu?" Lissana asked, coming closer to the cage than anyone dared. Everyone's facial expression had changed dramatically from amusement to shock, and now to horror as Natsu swiped his flamed and clawed hand across Lisanna's outstretched one. Lisanna screamed and took a step back from him, clutching her bleeding hand. Elfman immediately wanted revenge and made a move forward but was stopped by Erza standing in front of them all with her hand blocking their path. Elfman stopped and nodded understandingly.

Natsu immediately started bellowing loudly when he saw Lucy cowering behind Erza. Natsu started beating himself against the cage, trying to reach far enough to grab her. He started to pound his body against the bars so furiously that blood could be seen on his clothes.

"Natsu stop!" Lucy yelled and reached forward to try and halt his self-abuse.

Seeing Natsu's infatuation reach out to him only made him release a mass amount of magical energy, which set the whole cage on fire. Lucy wasn't swayed by that though and continued to try and reach him, much to Erza's frustration. There was scuffling of feet as everyone fought to get away from Natsu's fire. Having enough of this Erza grabbed Lucy around the waist and summoned a sword. Gripping the sword she turned the blade on Natsu. He quieted some as he saw his fixation in the arms of another person.

"Speak, Natsu. Remind us that your human." Erza stated, pointing the sword at Natsu's head.

Natsu growled and trapped the sword between his palms and began to melt it. Erza cursed as she quickly requiped and went into a rage filled charge at the boy, determined to get a good slash in for wrecking one of her favorite swords. In doing so, Lucy was left defenseless and tried to hopelessly maneuver around the array of people that were hurriedly leaving. She was caught up in the rush and ended up falling to the floor. She'd fallen less than a meter away from the other side of the cage. Gray speedily made his way over there to pick her up, but it was far too late when he got there.

Natsu had seen his long awaited mate lying at his very feet, and reacted accordingly. The sight was lovely, her face was pressed into the ground like a slave would bow to a master. He loved it. Instantly abandoning his fight with Erza he barreled to the other end of the cage and flew his arms out. His hand touched smooth hair first and that was the first thing he grabbed. Yanking Lucy by her hair, he dragged her to his eager body. His other arm reached out and wrapped around Lucy's waist, pressing her back against the iron bar of his cell painfully. Lucy screamed as he growled contently as his legs reached through the gaps as far as they could go and held Lucy's thighs down. All the guild members had stopped their panic stricken escape as their guild mate's scream echoed through the room. Silence invaded after Natsu had calmed down and it gave him the chance to growl low almost all incoherent words. All except one.

"Mine..." the man rumbled, sending vibrations through Lucy's back.

Well, Erza had wanted him to speak.


	5. Happy's a teddy bear

Natsu's voice was rough as her growled in Lucy's ear. He was panting heavily, trying to take in Lucy's sent the best he could. Lucy was frozen. Mine. The simple word gave her the feeling of the hope being dragged from her. Natsu repositioned the hand that had been clutching her hair, over her shoulder to partially wrap around her neck. At this point the strongest of the guild had positioned themselves in front of Natsu in battle stances. Loke had forced himself through the gate to help with the tense situation.

"Please Natsu..." Lucy started, turning her head slightly to face him. "Stop"

Natsu reacted by starting to strangle her, successfully silencing her. He kept growling as he eyed to other guild members. When anyone moved, even just the shifting of weight, he would tighten his hold on Lucy, until she started crying from the pain. Natsu opened his mouth wide and lit his head on fire. After learning trying to burn the bars was useless, Natsu decided to start smashing his head against the bars. The fire resistant spell may take away the damage the fire could so itself, but the added power it gave to Natsu's strikes did not fade. After a minute of what might result in brain damage, Natsu cracked the bars. The whole guild gasped as they broke and the momentum threw Lucy inside the cage with him. He quickly attacked Lucy and that's when the guild decided to take action.

They all charged at the cage spell's ready to cast and weapons raised. They didn't get very far as Natsu didn't appreciate the unwelcome company and engulfed the entire cage in fire. The only thing left untouched was the area where Natsu had Lucy pinned down. Lucy was gasping from pain as warmth over took her. Natsu bit everywhere leaving trails of blood. He began licking the wound as Lucy cried. Her eyes were wide with fright and they became wild.

"NO!" she screamed and started to hit him. She lashed out and scratched at his face.

Natsu hated the way she tried to escape him and brought his hand up to backhand her face, leaving more scratches. Lucy was note fazed, and continued her assault, ripping and tearing at his face. Natsu roared from the effort to contain Lucy and keep the spell up that would keep out the guild members. He felt sweat run down his cheek as he hit Lucy again and again, hoping for her to finally submit.

Lucy had finally had enough, and brought her hands up to clench Natsu's head only to swing it down hard towards the ground, successfully freeing her from under him. She knew if Natsu hadn't been weak from the massive spell she would have never been able to make the blow. Blood doted the side of Natsu's head as he looked up at Lucy,while she aimed her fist towards his head. Before she could strike she caught the look in his eyes. They were not the demonic look she had come to recognize, but in fact was the shocked expression of her best friend. She looked at her bloody and bruised face, and Lucy swore she could see the beginning if tears start to form. However, she couldn't investigate the look further as her ready fist connected with his face. The brilliant strike had Natsu flying backwards and passing out.

During this time the guild had had Juvia wrestling with Natsu's fire, trying to at least make a pathway to him. When Natsu was unconscious, the fire had lost all magic and was easily extinguished. They quickly made their way to what they hoped was their alive friend.

Lucy's state was pitiful. She was covered in blood which erupted from a multitude of scratch and bite marks. On her face a black eye was starting to form, along with the trail of scratches Natsu's fingers had made when he backhanded her. That was only the physical part. Emotionally she was gone. Her eyes were a never ending stream of tears and her voice could only wail. Trying to calm her down proved futile and the guild just watched with sorrowful eyes as she screamed. Lucy calmed down enough to move her head over top of Natsu limp one. She wrapped her arms around him and continued to cry. She knew she saw it, the sparks of recognition and shock in the _real _Natsu's eyes. She knew it wouldn't be long now until he came back and saw the destruction he'd made. And she knew without a doubt he would blame himself forever for hurting not only her, but Lissana and Gajeel too.

The shifting from below her startled her. No. It was much too soon for him to get up, and face this. He deserved a rest and...

"Lucy..." Natsu's voice murmured, and Lucy knew he was back. He'd never said her name while he was under whatever trance he'd been put into, and he's said it so softly too.

The entire guild was on him in a second, throwing Lucy off and tackling him to the ground. Lucy stopped her tears as she watched them, crawling over to an equally teary Happy. Together they watched as Erza ordered of a bulk of the group off Natsu.

Natsu breath had evaded him when twenty or so guild members tackled him to the floor. The momentary pain had him forgetting that Lucy had just been lying on him crying, but not for long. After he got his breath back, during which time Erza was directing people away from the dragon slayer. Everyone had got up, save for Gajeel, and faced his body with dark expressions. Each not wanting to hurt guild mates but wanting revenge for a guild mate.

"Oi, Gajeel let me go." Natsu said trying to push the heavy man off him.

"Not what after you did to bunny girl." he replied adding more weight.

The events that had taken place that day hit Natsu like a ton of bricks. He had assumed since he was unconscious that it had all been a dream, but the smell of Lucy's copper blood invaded his nose and told him otherwise. Struggling around Gajeel he glanced at Lucy. She was holding Happy like a teddy bear and he face was wiped clean of any emotion. Even though her sadness wasn't written on her face, her tears still continued to fall across her wounds. Wounds inflicted by Natsu. Natsu's gut wrenched like he was going to throw up and his face paled.

"It's okay bastard." Natsu started. "I'm back."

He saw a few trust worthy people relax his words, and Gajeel lifted his weight off him. Natsu turned to face Lucy and the whole guild tensed.

"Lucy I..." Natsu began and stopped when he saw Lucy flash him a big, honest grin. Startled at this Natsu raised his hand that would have been to caress Lucy's face. When Lucy saw Natsu's raised hand, she reflexed and flinched. Natsu identified Lucy's action as one of fear and felt his heart give.

He broke down into uncontrollable sobs.


	6. Levy hates idiots

Okay so final chapter. The ending is always the hardest part so I hope I made this one well. Have fun and please REVIEW!

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Natsu's cry's pierced Lucy's heart. God _why _had she flinched? The guild quickly crowded around Natsu, obscuring him from Lucy. Wendy on the other hand came to help Lucy with her wounds, concentrating on closing wounds and restoring blood loss quickly drained her power and Lucy was left with a few not entirely healed wounds. When Lucy was free she tried to see Natsu around the array of people. Erza and Master had calmed him down some, but his face was still contorted in pain. When they asked him to explain what had happened from his perspective he could barely get the words out.

"I..." he began and then took a deep breath "I could see everything and I felt everything. It wasn't like I was watching someone else do these things. It was _me. _I did them. I'm so sorry..." his voice caught and he looked down in shame.

"So what made you snap out of it?" Erza asked, honestly curious.

A bit of Natsu's courage returned as he answered. "I don't know. Lucy just hit be on the head and it was like blacking out in reverse..."

Gajeel's face put on a sage like expression, and he folded his arms in a knowing manner "So, like most things, a good smack to the head is all it took."

After that comment, Levy decided to put Gajeel's thought into practice by landing an expert blow to the back of his head "Idiot"

Natsu's face brightened a moment at the cheery mood and then darkened in pain as he saw Lucy drawing near. Lucy's voice was calm and controlled as she greeted him. The whole guild took a step back at the exchange and gave them space.

"Lucy..." Natsu started getting up to face her.

"Before you say anything, it was alright. No one died and your back so..." she said, trying to sound rational.

At this Natsu decided it was a good idea to bounce towards her at incredible speed, only to stop a foot away. Lucy was startled at the sudden nearness of the one who had just recently been trying to kill her and trembled on instinct, letting go of the rational facade only a little bit. Natsu noticed this and very carefully raised one finger to touch her.

"Lucy, your shaking..." he whispered. His knees quaked as he dropped to the floor. In one fluid motion he rested his head on the floorboards and did an awkward bow.

"I'm sorry! Please forgive me...please" he said raising his head to look at her shocked expression. "Please..."

Looking at his pathetically childish expression her shocked expression changed to a hopeful smile and tears began to cascade down her cheeks. Now _this _was her Natsu. This was the boy meant for theatrics as he got down on his hands and knees and begged her for forgiveness. Her smile became more pained as she threw her arms around him.

"Of course, idiot!" she wailed and cried into his shoulder.

Natsu returned her embrace and they stayed like that for a while. At the sight of the reunion of two comrades the guild rejoiced and immediately started a party. Gajeel sang, Grey and Elfman brawled (Natsu couldn't join because he was a little busy at the moment), and Erza ate her cakes. All in all it was a classic fairytail party that lasted well into the night.

In the days that followed Natsu went out of his way to make everything up to Lucy. Every time he looked at the almost faded sight of his bite marks pain flitted across his face, same as when Lucy saw him get much to into a fight and his expression turned into a predatory one. In those very few moments Natsu would see Lucy flinch, whether it be by his own scary expression or that of an enemy, he would beat either the enemy to oblivion or himself for ever scaring her. It hurt him so much to see Lucy scared he made it his personal mission to stop anything from scaring her, and he did a damn good job at it. Even though it was incredibly selfish of him to do so, if anyone so much as made her uncomfortable they would receive a hit across their face, which instead of scaring Lucy made her yell at him, and Lucy angry was much better than Lucy scared.


End file.
